Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 335 The Crucial Memory (Part 3)

The Morfin before him was completely different from the one Harry remembered seeing last time. If Morfin hadn't said his name himself, Harry would never have guessed that this down-on-his-luck man was Morfin.

"Marvolo's son?" the young Voldemort asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." Morfin reached out and brushed aside the hair that was blocking her eyes, wanting to see Voldemort more clearly.

The black gemstone ring on his hand was very eye-catching.

"I thought you were that Muggle, you look just like him."

"Which Muggle?"

"The one my sister likes lives in the big house across the street. You look a lot like him when he was young..." Mo Fen swayed slightly, and only felt a little better after holding onto the table.

His long-term decadent lifestyle had made his health very poor, and he did get up rather quickly just now.

"He's back, you know that..." Morphine's head was lowered, her voice somewhat unsteady and low, but before Voldemort could speak, Morphine went berserk, waving her wand and knife, shouting, "He abandoned my sister! My sister deserved to marry a piece of trash!"

"She even stole our things before she ran away! The Slytherin locket! The locket!"

"You've disgraced us! You've disgraced the Gaunt family!"

Morfin was furiously cursing when the memory abruptly ended, and the surroundings suddenly plunged into darkness. Harry was about to ask a question when Dumbledore pulled him away from the memory.

"What about the next part?" Harry asked hurriedly as soon as he got back to his office.

"Morphin refuses to recall what happened next," Dumbledore said, pulling the memory from the Pensieve and placing it back into the bottle. "However, I can tell you what happened next..."

"When he woke up the next day, he was lying on the floor all by himself, and he had lost Marvolo's ring."

"Meanwhile, a murder occurred in the large house across the street, the residence of old Tom Riddle. Old Tom and his entire family were killed, including him and his parents..."

"This case remains unsolved for Muggles; they don't know how the Riddle family died. That's normal; people killed by the Death Curse don't leave any trace... However, the Ministry of Magic knows it was done by wizards and immediately identified Morfin as the prime suspect."

"After they met Morfin, Morfin confessed without using Veritaserum or Legilimency. He told them many details that only the murderer would know, and with the confirmation of the Flashback Charm, his wand was indeed the murder weapon used to kill the Riddle family... So, the case was closed, and Morfin was taken to Azkaban, where he spent the rest of his life."

"Did Voldemort kill them with his wand?" Harry asked.

"That's right." Dumbledore nodded. "Although there's no direct evidence to prove it, there isn't really any evidence needed."

"Voldemort knocked Morphin unconscious, took his wand and Marvolo's ring, went to kill the Muggle who had abandoned his mother, and wiped out the entire Riddle family. When he returned to the Gaunt family after doing all this, he used a complicated spell to implant a false memory into Morphin and returned his wand to him."

"Has no one bothered to investigate? Those guys from the Ministry of Magic?" Harry said, frowning, seemingly indignant on Morfin's behalf.

"Unfortunately, no." Dumbledore shook his head. "Morphin has a criminal record and has confessed to his 'crimes.' Moreover, it must be admitted that Voldemort's magic was very ingenious, and most people couldn't see through it."

"Later, while exploring Voldemort's past, I visited him a few weeks before Morfin died. I finally obtained this memory, and after reading it, I wanted to rescue him from Azkaban, but..."

"But what, sir?"

"But I was too late. He died before the Ministry of Magic could make a decision, and his remains were buried next to the prison, like those of other prisoners who died in Azkaban."

"Ha, that's exactly what the Ministry of Magic would do," Harry sneered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. That was his impression of the Ministry of Magic, and it seemed to have remained unchanged for decades.

Regardless of who sits in the minister's seat.

Dumbledore made no comment on this, but simply opened another bottle and poured the memories inside into the Pensieve. This process wasn't as smooth as before; the memory was somewhat congealed, like spoiled milk.

"Remember what I said at the beginning? This is the most important memory..." Dumbledore said, reaching out to take Harry's hand. The two of them immersed their faces in the Pensieve, and in an instant, they were in front of someone.

This time, Harry recognized the man immediately; it was a much younger Professor Slughorn. His hair was thick and shiny, his ginger beard was neatly trimmed, and he no longer had that excessively large belly.

But you can also see one thing: the buttons on his shirt around his abdomen are pulled very tight.

Slughorn sat in his office armchair, a small glass of wine in his hand, surrounded by six or seven boys. Harry recognized Voldemort immediately; he was the most handsome and the most relaxed of them all.

Moreover, the Marvolo ring on his hand was really eye-catching.

They were chatting idly, the boys saying things about Guinness Lagerhorn, which pleased him greatly. But suddenly, a white mist filled the entire office, without the boys noticing.

Harry didn't know what this phenomenon meant and wanted to ask Dumbledore, but found that his attention was completely focused on the scene before him. Just as he turned around, the view in front of him changed.

"Good heavens, is it time?" The small gold clock on Slughorn's desk chimed, its hands pointing to eleven o'clock. He rose from his chair and said, "The children should go, or we'll be in trouble."

He walked to the door and opened it, and the children went out one by one. Voldemort lagged behind, and it was clear he was doing it on purpose.

"Hurry up, Tom, you're the prefect, you don't want to get caught outside after lights out, do you..."

"Sir, I have a question for you," Voldemort said.

"Then ask quickly, child..."

"Sir, I'd like to ask if you know anything about... Horcruxes?"

Then, the eerie white mist returned. Harry could see neither Slughorn nor Voldemort, and as before, Dumbledore focused his attention on the impenetrable white mist.

This time, the white mist disappeared rather slowly, and after a while, Slughorn's voice finally rang out.

"I know nothing about Horcruxes! And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

"Get out! Don't let me hear you mention this again!"

As soon as Slughorn finished speaking, darkness enveloped them, and in the blink of an eye, they were back in the principal's office.

The ending was abrupt, leaving Harry completely bewildered. He had thought it was a very detailed and long memory, otherwise why would it be the "most important" one?

He couldn't help but ask:

"this one?"

(End of this chapter)